Konoha's biggest mistake: Book 1 Konoha
by shinigami-shane
Summary: Naruto gets forced out of Konoha
1. Konoha:Naruto's Banishment

After Naruto returned to Konoha after defeating pain he got ordered to head straight to where all of the injured were being healed to have the medics heal him if necessary by Danzou.

Naruto said to the old man "I'm fine, really. Sage mode heals my injuries really fast, and as you probably know the nine-tails heals me as well.

Danzou thought to himself *sage-mode. Damn him, that bloody demon kid has become a sage just like that ant Jiraiya. I definitely need to get rid of him now... I know.* Danzou then said to Naruto "I know that, it's just standard procedure you see."

Naruto said "oh, alright then; see ya'" then Naruto walked off to where he knew Sakura was.

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5 minutes later Danzou arrived at where the other council members should have been; when he got there he found only rubble from Naruto's blast when he had transformed into the Kyuubi Danzou smiled and said "at last, I finally have legal grounds to get rid of him, after all this time..." he scoffed at what he was about to say "...I must say it is kind of ironic that it happened as he was trying to save everyone. Oh well, time to get rid of the demon..." Danzou then called one of his 'root' members and told them to call the clan heads.

When the clan heads had arrived Danzou started to speak when Hiashi Hyuuga interrupted him saying "what have you called us here for?"

Danzou replied "now, I truly am sorry for what I am about to say."

Inoichi said "I doubt that."

Danzou said "nevertheless, we must banish Naruto Uzumaki."

Shikaku Nara said "why, it's clear that he's just saved the entire village from being destroyed; and it is common knowledge that you have always wanted to get rid of him."

Danzou said "now, now, calm down. I am suggesting this as an alternative punishment to what would normally be meted out."

The head of the Aburame clan said "what do you mean?"

Danzou replied "unfortunately in his desperation to defend the village when he transformed into that nightmare from almost two decades age he killed the other council members."

At that statement all of the clan heads looked between each other and started murmuring about his statement; when Shikamaru came looking for his father to tell him that everyone in the village that died had for some reason come back to life and saw all of the clan heads in one place he asked his father "what's going on dad?"

His father answered "Naruto is going to be banished for killing the council members."

Shikamaru replied "why, everybody is coming back to life."

Shikaku said to his son "look over where everybody is looking. Nothing could return if their entire being was destroyed."

Shikamaru said "you know that Tsunade will never agree to such a thing right?"

Shikaku said "I think she might, after all, normally the punishment for killing even one of the high council would be death, and he killed two."

Shikamaru sighed and said "I see, fine, do you mind if I tell him then?"

Shikaku turned to the gathered clan heads and said "do any of you mind if my son tells Naruto about what is happening?" When nobody disagreed he turned to his son and said "alright, go ahead, I don't think that anyone here... well, except the old warhawk over there would want to tell him anything of the sort, especially after what he just did."

Shikamaru said "thanks."

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While the meeting was taking place Naruto had arrived at the medical centre and walked to where Tsunade and Sakura were and said "I'm back."

Sakura rushed to him and hugged him and immediately proceeded to inspect him for any injuries that he may have taken, when she was done she sighed and said "you're just as healthy as usual."

At this point Shikamaru entered the tent and said "that's good, he'll need to be."

At that statement everyone turned to him and Sakura asked "why's that?"

Shikamaru sighed and with a voice filled with regret said "Naruto, you've been banished."

Naruto felt as if the ground had just crumbled away under him and started stuttering "b-b-b-ban..."

Sakura full of rage said "banished... why... on whose orders?"

Shikamaru said "all of the clan heads', apparently he somehow killed two of the council members. According to my dad killing even one of them carries the death penalty."

Sakura sighed and said "is that so."

Naruto by now had processed the situation said "well then, I suppose that they must punish me some way."

Sakura said "Naruto. We'll find some way to fight this ruling."

Naruto sighed and said "don't bother; I'd be no Konoha shinobi if I asked anyone to break the rules entirely just for me."

Sakura said "Naruto..."

Shikamaru said "well, you better get away right now; after all now that you have been banished there is a time limit of three days for you to get out of the land of fire."

Naruto said "right, well then, I'll be on my way... Sakura, Tsunade, see yah later."

Naruto and Shikamaru then left the tent and then Naruto turned to Shikamaru and said "if I remember the banishment rules correctly one shinobi of chuunin rank or higher is to accompany any exiled shinobi to the border, am I right?"

Shikamaru said "yeah, that right."

Naruto said "well, come on then."

Shikamaru said "okay."

Then the two of them walked to what was left of the gates of Konoha and then took to the trees.

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2 days later at the border...

Shikamaru turned to Naruto and said "so, what are you going to do now?"

Naruto said "don't know really; guess I'll go to check out my bridge."

Shikamaru asked "what do you mean 'your bridge'?"

Naruto who had walked a few metres away by this time turned his head and said "ask Sakura, she'll know."

Shikamaru said "fine then, how troublesome. See ya"

Both of them then went their separate ways.

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One and a half days after Shikamaru and Naruto parted ways in Konoha, Kiba, Ino, Hinata, Neji and Sakura had packed their gear to go after Naruto and bring him back to Konoha and were meeting at the gates where they had been intercepted by Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, and Tsunade. Tsunade said to the group "and where do you think that you're going?"

Sakura said "we're going to find Naruto."

Tsunade sighed and said "don't you remember what he said before he left?"

Sakura said "he said _'what kind of Konoha shinobi would I be if I asked others to completely break the rules just for me'_ or something along those lines."

Tsunade said "and yet you still want to go after him?"

Kakashi said "you know what he wants more than anything right?"

Sakura said "to protect his precious people."

Kakashi said "and just what do you think will happen if you leave the village right now?"

Shikamaru who had arrived just in time to hear the conversation said "you would all be considered as traitors and sentenced to death upon your return."

Tsunade said "right; and do you think that that would make him the least bit impressed or happy?"

Hinata said "no Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade sighed and said "look, we all feel just as strongly about the way he's been treated as you all do, the fact is that unfortunately if he set's foot anywhere near Konoha he will have a death sentence on him. That damned Danzou thought everything through this time."

Shikamaru said "Sakura, Kakashi I'd like to talk to you later if that's alright."

Sakura asked "why's that?"

Shikamaru said "tell ya later."

Sakura said "alright"

The rest of the gathered shinobi left except for Tsunade and Shikamaru. When they were alone Tsunade turned to Shikamaru and said "alright, what did he say?"

Shikamaru said "I don't have any idea what you're talking about." When Shikamaru felt Tsunade gathering chakra to her fist he quickly said "although on second thoughts there might be a way to find out later on."

Tsunade said "thought there might be."

Shikamaru sighed, scratched his head and said "troublesome... oh, is there anything that you want me to do while I am still here?"

Tsunade said "yeah, sure thing, you are now promoted to jounin"

Shikamaru shocked stuttered "j-j-jounin, this is a joke right?"

Tsunade said "no."

Shikamaru still in shock asked "why?"

Tsunade said "you'll need such a rank to be able to command other's of equal rank whilst we are rebuilding Konoha."

Shikamaru said "right... so I'll be seeing you later right?"

Tsunade said "yeah."

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7 hours later...

Kakashi, Tsunade and Sakura were gathered in team seven's training area and were waiting for Shikamaru to arrive and Sakura said to Kakashi "I wonder what he's doing now."

Kakashi said "I imagine that he is depressed about what happened."

Sakura turned to Tsunade and said "you don't think that he'd take his own life do you?"

At this point Shikamaru arrived and said "I doubt it."

Sakura turned at the sound of his voice and said "Shikamaru. So what did he tell you to tell us?"

Shikamaru replied "he actually didn't tell me to tell you anything." The three shinobi that were gathered looked at Shikamaru like he had grown another head or something; seeing the way that they were looking at him said "although he did tell me that he was going to check out 'his bridge' whatever that means."

Sakura turned to Kakashi and said "you don't think he means..."

Kakashi sighed and said "yeah"

Shikamaru looked at them and said "uh, can you let me in on the secret please?"

Kakashi said "on our first mission outside Konoha when we were still team seven was to the country of wave and we ended fighting Zabuza the demon of the mist"

Shikamaru said "yeah, and?"

Sakura said "the bridge builder was so impressed by Naruto's desire to never give up that they named the damn bridge after him."

Shikamaru said "I was wondering how 'the Great Naruto Bridge' got its name."

Tsunade said "so you think he's gone there then?"

Kakashi said "we'll Zabuza and his assistant did have a great impact on Naruto and so it's likely that he's going there to see if it's worth going on."

Sakura said "Haku was the first person to show Naruto that 'protecting someone important to you' may involve sacrifice."

Shikamaru sighed and said "well then, what are you going to do about this Tsunade?"

Kakashi said "well, we all want to go and find out what his plans are right?"

Sakura said "yes, of course."

Kakashi said "well then, why don't we have Tsunade assign us a mission to the wave country then?"

Shikamaru said "well, for starters I can't go because Tsunade here dumped the rebuilding of Konoha onto my shoulders. Two; Sakura, you and Tsunade can't go either as you both specialise in medical ninjutsu..."

Kakashi said "which leaves me."

Shikamaru said "I'd send Hinata as well."

Tsunade said "why?"

Shikamaru said "why? Because then you can disguise the mission as political in nature."

Tsunade said "alright consider it done. Kakashi you and Hinata are to leave for the wave country immediately."

Kakashi said "understood."

Shikamaru turned to Sakura and seeing the sadness on her face said "come on, you're needed here more than anything else."

Sakura said "I know; I really do."

Shikamaru said "but you still want to go."

Sakura said "yeah."

Shikamaru said "well you know that you'd be branded a traitor if you went outside the village now."

Sakura said "yeah ah well, I'll just ask for some time off after everything is taken care of here."

Shikamaru said "now that is more like what Naruto would want you to do."


	2. Konoha:Sasuke's Return, Naruto's Revenge

Two days after Naruto had left Shikamaru at the border of the fire country he ran into Sasuke's team taka...

"Naruto"

"Sasuke"

"Are you here to try and take me back to Konoha again?"

"No."

Sasuke asked "well then what are you doing here?"

Naruto replied "Konoha just got destroyed and in the middle of trying to save all of the inhabitants I transformed into that blasted thing and destroyed the building that 2 of the council members were in."

Karin said "that still doesn't explain what you are doing here though."

Sasuke said "yes it does; doesn't it Naruto?"

Naruto said "yeah."

Juugo asked "how?"

Sasuke said "in Konoha the punishment for killing one of the council members is death; so imagine what it is for killing two."

Karin said "well, if that is the case then why is he here?"

Sasuke said "I would assume that it would be because he has saved Konoha multiple times in the past, that he saved the rest of Konoha's population this time and Tsunade somehow convinced the rest of the council and the clan heads to agree to a lesser penalty; that about right Naruto?"

Naruto said "almost."

Karin said "almost? What do you mean?"

Naruto said "it was Danzou."

At this Sasuke's eyebrows creased into a frown and said "Danzou, as in the head of ANBU's root division?"

Naruto said "yeah, how'd you know about him?"

Sasuke said "he's the bastard that ordered the extermination of the Uchiha's"

Naruto said "that doesn't really surprise me."

Karin said "why not?"

Naruto said "well, Tsunade said that he fought the third for the position of Hokage and he apparently vehemently disagreed with the third's teachings... come to think of it my banishment while on the surface looks as if it is an act of kindness for past services could be his way of trying to manipulate the council to appoint him Hokage."

Suigetsu said "I thought that Tsunade was Hokage?"

Naruto said "she's been in a coma for a while. Shizune and Sakura don't know when she will wake up and knowing the rest of the council and the clan heads they will want someone in the position as soon as possible... come to think of it, when I was in sage mode I felt a large amount of chakra sources underground."

Karin said "what?"

Sasuke said "sage mode? I thought that only Jiraiya was the only one that could enter that state?"

Naruto replied "well, I undertook the same training as Jiraiya at the Myobokuzan Mountains."

Sasuke said "so, who's the strongest that would still be in Konoha at the moment?"

Naruto said "well, there are probably three or four people that could be considered 'the strongest'."

Suigetsu eagerly asked "really, who?"

Naruto said "I was just getting to that. Well, there's Kakashi... although they will probably send him after me; Sakura, if you tell her that you're getting your revenge; both for your clan and me... Tsunade never trusted Danzou in the first place and add that onto the mission that we met you on and she'll probably not get in your way... don't expect her to help though, she'll likely be working in the medical centre that'll have been set up. Then there is Sai."

Sasuke said "who's Sai?"

Naruto said "I think you met him on that mission that I was talking about before. If that snake bastard didn't tell you he's from the 'root' division of ANBU and your replacement on team Kakashi. You might want to watch out for him, all I really know about him is that he uses ink to fight."

Sasuke said "my replacement?"

Naruto said "yeah, teams are made up of four people remember."

Sasuke said "so, what are you going to do now?"

Naruto replied "well, right now I'm going to go to the wave country to say hi to an old friend and an old enemy. Then after that I'm thinking of going to Suna."

Sasuke said "Suna huh, why?"

Naruto said "well, I heard that they had a few wind masters there; then I think that I'll start searching for my mother."

Karin asked "who is she?"

Naruto said "Kushina Uzumaki"

Karin said "alright, I'll have a look around 'root's' records to see if there is any information about her there."

Naruto said "thanks."

Karin blushed and said "no problem. I'll meet you in Suna to tell you what I found out."

Naruto said "well then, see ya later... oh, by the way, Shikamaru got put in charge of the re-building of Konoha."

Suigetsu said "so what?"

Sasuke said to himself "hmm, that could throw a wrench into our plans."

Juugo asked "how?"

Suigetsu said "yeah, how; I mean everything that you've told us about him says that he's one of the weakest shinobi in Konoha?"

Naruto said "weakest in traditional strength maybe; but his intelligence more than makes up for that, doesn't it Sasuke?

Sasuke said "yes, it does."

Suigetsu asked "how so?"

Naruto said "he formulated a plan to take on two Akatsuki members; took out one of them by himself and at the same time assisted Kakashi and myself in dealing with the other one."

Karin said "I see, so he may be the most troublesome one in the entire village then?"

Naruto said "yeah, he really is a force to be reckoned with."

Sasuke said "well then, thanks for the update on the current situation Naruto."

Naruto said "no problem; anything to get back at that damn bastard Danzou. Okay, well then, I'm off to the wave country now; see ya."

Sasuke said "yeah, bye."

Karin said "see you in Suna."

Suigetsu and Juugo remained silent as Naruto started to walk away from them. When Naruto was out of sight Suigetsu turned to Karin and said "so, now you want to ravish a sage, huh?"

In reply to Suigetsu's statement Karin formed some hand seals for a lightning jutsu and when her entire arm was covered with electricity she punched Suigetsu; at the same time however she was thinking to herself no, it would probably be the other way around.

Sasuke said "are you two done now?"

Karin said "yes."

Suigetsu said "shocking ain't it?"

Karin sarcastically said "ha; ha."

Sasuke said "good, time to get going to Konoha then."

Juugo said "finally."

With that the four of them started walking in the direction that Naruto had just come from.

Meanwhile in Konoha Kakashi and Hinata had met up at the gates of Konoha and were about to set off when Tsunade came up to Kakashi and said "it might be of some interest for you to know that Minato kept a house in Kirigakure."

Kakashi said "that's good to know; ah well, see ya." With that said he and Hinata started walking out of the construction zone that Konoha had become.

One hour later Hinata turned to Kakashi and asked "who was this minato person that Tsunade-sama was talking about?"

Kakashi looked at Hinata, paused for a minute and then said "well, he could probably be described many ways... one would be my sensei..."

Hinata interrupted saying "who was that?"

Kakashi said "I was getting to that part... another would be as Jiraiya's apprentice..."

Hinata interrupted once again saying "but I thought that Naruto–kun was Jiraiya's apprentice."

Kakashi said "you're even more impatient than Naruto aren't you?..." Hinata blushed at being compared to Naruto especially in such a way. Kakashi then continued saying "but the way that you probably know him is probably as the Yondaime Hokage."

Hinata said "you were taught by the Yondaime?"

Kakashi smiled, scratched the back of his head and said "yeah."

Hinata said "well, what is his relation to Naruto-kun then?"

Kakashi said "did you ever see the photo of the fourth that was in the Hokage's office?"

Hinata said "yeah, what of it?"

Kakashi said "and you still need to ask?"

Hinata said "...well, I suppose that if you got rid of the hot whisker marks on Naruto–kun's face they could almost pass for father and son."

Kakashi said "what do you mean almost?"

When Hinata had processed what Kakashi had just said she fainted. Kakashi said to the unconscious Hyuuga "well, I suppose that this is as good a time as any to take a break."

Thirty minuted later Hinata woke up, looked at Kakashi and said "so, um, does Naruto–kun know of his lineage?"

Kakashi said "I don't really know. He may have figured it out on his own, Jiraiya may have told him in the time that they spent together, or on the other hand he may have no clue about it at all."

Hinata asked "what do you think that his reaction would be if he found out?"

Kakashi asked "found out what?"

Hinata said "that the cause of all the problems that he has faced in his life was caused by his own father?"

Kakashi said "well, I would imagine that his first reaction would in the lack of being able to have access to the Yondaime would be to create a clone, make it henge into the fourth and punch it in the head or the stomach."

Hinata smiled and said "probably."

Kakashi said "well, I suppose that that's all academic for the time being, anyway it's time to get going I think."

Hinata said "yeah, I'm sorry for the delay" they then stood up and took to the trees.

Back with 'team taka' Sasuke was saying "we now need to take a different route to Konoha."

Suigetsu asked "why? Wasn't it your idea to take the most direct route there?"

Sasuke said "because with what Naruto just told us it is likely that Kakashi and whoever is with him will likely be coming this way and I don't know about you but I'd rather face Danzou and whoever else we may have to fight, not being exhausted from fighting Kakashi."

Suigetsu with great reluctance said "heh, guess you've got a point there."

Sasuke said "good, now then, we will now be approaching Konoha from the direction of the rice country."

Suigetsu said "whoa whoa, hold on a minute, you want to approach Konoha of all places from the direction of where the sound village was?"

Sasuke said "yes."

Suigetsu said "uh, this may seem like a weird question to you, but isn't approaching Konoha from that direction a bad idea?"

Karin said "how dare you question Sasuke!"

Sasuke said "calm down Karin; no it's not; they will not be expecting any kind of attacks now and certainly not from the direction of a village that got destroyed years ago."

Suigetsu said "oh, okay then."

Juugo said "Sasuke-san, the birds are telling me that two people are headed this way."

Sasuke said "let's get on our way."

All three of Sasuke's comrade's said "hai" all four members of 'team taka' then jumped to the tops of the trees and took off in the direction of the rice country.

Meanwhile Naruto was jumping through the trees on his way to the country of wave when he came across a merchant that was carrying some clothes to sell in Konoha as there would likely be an increase in the demand of such items in the months following the destruction of the village. When Naruto saw the merchant he dropped down out of the trees walked up to the merchant and said "hey old man..."

The merchant said "I'm not old; I'm only twenty-seven."

Naruto said "sorry, I call anyone over twenty-five 'old man'."

The merchant said "nevertheless, it's inconceivably rude.

Naruto said "ok, well then, I was about to ask if you could sell me some clothes."

The merchant said "well, I suppose you do look like a walking target as it is; so I suppose I could sell you some."

Naruto said "well, I don't have much money on me at the moment, although is it safe to assume that you're headed to Konoha?"

The merchant said "yes it is, why?"

Naruto said "well then, you can just ask Tsunade, to pay for the clothes then."

The merchant said "I highly doubt that."

Naruto said "just tell her that Naruto sends his regards and you'll get your payment."

The merchant said "I don't know what it is but I seem to believe you for some reason. Ah well, ok I'll ask her then. So, what do you want?"

Naruto said "well, I'd like a jounin uniform in green and a travelling cloak in brown please."

The merchant said "okay, very well, now then, green, green, ah, here we are." He gave the uniform to Naruto and continued on saying "now then, the cloak, the cloak, ah, here we are." The merchant turned back to Naruto once again and said "there you go, now, to get back on my way to Konoha."

Naruto said "thanks."

The merchant said "no problem." The merchant then turned around and got back to what he was doing prior to running into Naruto.

Naruto on the other hand went back to walking in the direction of the wave country.

At the same time with 'team taka' Suigetsu was asking Sasuke "so then, what's the plan for when we get to Konoha?"

Sasuke said "well, first of all, we want to avoid fighting as much as possible."

Suigetsu said "eh, but that's so boring."

Sasuke said "nevertheless, we want to kill only those that are absolutely necessary."

Juugo asked "and who would that be?"

Sasuke said "Danzou, anyone in root, and knowing Naruto he has probably gotten Sai to a point that he would be able to question Danzou's motives and actions in just about anything, so if possible I'd like to leave him out of this, so don't kill him; no civilians are to be killed, nor are a pink haired kunoichi, Tsunade, a kunoichi that has brown hair tied in two buns, Neji Hyuuga, Hinata Hyuuga, any Yamanaka, Akamichi or any Nara. Also there are likely two people in disgusting green jumpsuits, do not under any circumstance engage them; also there's Kakashi, the Inazuka's and the Aburame's. If any of the people that I just mentioned die, the person that killed them will find themselves no longer among the living." Sasuke turned to Suigetsu and said "Is that understood?"

Suigetsu said "yeah, yeah, I got it."

Sasuke said "good, now then let's go destroy 'root'."

Karin said "uh, Sasuke, my skills aren't conducive to fighting, so uh, what should I do?"

Sasuke said "well, according to Naruto's information, Sakura, Shizune, Tsunade and none of the other people that I graduated from the academy with have no reason to like Danzou and many reason's to hate him, I think that you should go and talk to Sakura about what we are going to do; who knows, we might even get some allies in our fight against root."

Karin said "alright, uh, where do you think that they would be exactly?"

Sasuke said "Naruto said that Sakura was a medic didn't he?"

Karin said "yeah, so check the medical station first."

Sasuke said "yes."

Juugo said "so, what am I doing?"

Sasuke said "you're going with Suigetsu, and whoever Karin can get to help, to destroy root; while I go after Danzou."

Juugo said "very well."

Sasuke said "Karin you'll have to go in first alone."

Suigetsu asked "why?"

Sasuke said "because one person will attract less attention than four, plus the guards at the entrance of Konoha will likely know what I look like and also, you're carrying Zabuza's sword, and Juugo,..." Sasuke turned to Juugo and said "no offense but you're just as likely to go on a rampage as you are not to."

Juugo said "none taken, I'm well aware of my condition and you're decision is the correct one."

Sasuke said "after we are done here you might even be able to convince Tsunade or Sakura to try to make some medicine to take care of your condition for you."

As Sasuke was saying this the destroyed gates of Konoha came into view...

Author's Note.

If you are concerned about Naruto's referring to Tsunade being in a coma, remember that it has been four days since he left Konoha. Things do change in four days so any information that naruto had was old. That is all.


	3. Konoha:Wave Country

Naruto was standing in front of the Great Naruto Bridge and thought to himself *well, here I am, back where everything really started, for me, and for team seven.* He then started to cross to the other side of the bridge and when he was halfway across the bridge he had a flashback to his fight against Haku and thought to himself *well Haku, it looks like all of my precious people are lost to me now.* He then continued across the bridge until he got to the other side. When he arrived at the township the sight that greeted him astonished him so much that for the first time in his life the 'loudest knuckle-headed ninja' was speechless. Whereas the previous time that Naruto was in this village it had been made up of only ramshackle buildings and was severely poverty stricken; this time all of the buildings had been repaired and the prices of food had been decreased dramatically. Naruto walked up to the nearest street–vendor and asked him "where is Tazuna's house?"

The vendor said "it's near the docks."

Naruto said "any particular one?"

The vendor said "nyeh."

"Alright guess I'll just have to ask around at the docks then. Thanks for your help." The vender said nothing and Naruto headed off to the docks.

20 minutes later Naruto arrived at the docks and started looking for the house that he remembered from all those years ago, when he couldn't find it he started looking for anyone around the docks that could help him find the house that he was looking for; eventually Naruto saw someone messing about with what he assumed was the man's boat and said "hey, you wouldn't happen to know where Tazuna's house is would you?"

The man said "yeah, it's the fifth one in the direction that you just came from."

Naruto thanked the man and left to go to the house that the man had directed him to and knocked on the door; thirty seconds later Tsunami opened the door and in an annoyed tone said "what do you want to sell me this time?"

Naruto had a drop of sweat appear on the side of his face and said "I know that it's been a few years Tsunami–san but surely you recognize me?"

"Well, come to think of it, you do seem to resemble that blonde gaki that helped us out a few years ago"

At Tsunami's reply Naruto got a depressed look on his face and said "Tsunami–san..."

Tsunami interrupted saying "yes?"

Naruto continued "would it be possible for me to stay here for about a week and a half?"

Tsunami answered "sure, after all you ninja's from Konoha did for us at that time..." Tsunami then looked at his face and continued on to say "what happened?"

Naruto said "I got exiled."

Tsunami realizing the implications and taking what she saw of Naruto's nature from all those years ago into account said "come inside, quickly." When they got inside they went to the main family room and Tsunami asked "have you been introduced to the wonder that is sake?"

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The next morning as Naruto woke up at the table that he had passed out on the previous night he groaned out "am I dead?"

Tsunami woke up hearing his question and replied "no, but I wish I was; how about you?"

Naruto said "no, I'm definitely dead; if I wasn't then I wouldn't have this splitting headache."

Tsunami said "that'd be because we drank six bottles of sake last night...each."

Naruto chuckled and said "oh yeah, I forgot."

Tsunami replied in a deadpan voice "that'd be because of the sake as well."

Naruto said "well then, I think that it's time to go visit Zabuza now."

Tsunami more stated than asked "so that's why you came here then."

Naruto said "yeah, why?"

Tsunami said in a hurt tone "so you didn't just come to see me then?"

Naruto shocked started saying "I.. I... I.... huh?"

Tsunami said "just joking with you" and started laughing sheepishly.

Naruto said "well then, see ya later."

Tsunami said "I'll be right here."

Naruto then turned around and waved at her as he was walking off.

When Naruto was walking off Tsunami thought to herself *damn, he really has grown up... hmm, I wonder what he's lik...* Tsunami shook her head and said "where the hell did that come from? Ah well" and then she walked back inside her house.

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20 minutes later when Naruto arrived at the gravesite of Haku and Zabuza Naruto saw two people already standing before their graves and Naruto called out "hey there Kakashi I see you brought Hinata along with you; how are ya doing?"

Hinata said "h-h-he-hello Naruto-kun."

Kakashi smiled, and said "yo" in his usual lazy voice and made a flimsy salute using two of his fingers and flicking them away from his forehead.

Naruto said "you got my message then?"

Kakashi said "we're here aren't we?"

Naruto said to himself "yeah."

Kakashi asked "so, what do you want to tell me that you couldn't tell Shikamaru?"

Naruto said "a few things, but I think that here isn't the best place to talk about this."

Kakashi said "well, where would be a good place then?"

Naruto replied "how about our old staging grounds?"

Kakashi asked "are you sure that they'd be alright with our staying there again?"

Naruto said "yeah, Tsunami's fine with it; after all, we did spend all of yesterday getting drunk."

Kakashi thought to himself *he's taking this even harder than Jiraiya–sama's death.* He then said "well then, let's go."

With that they all shun-shinned to Tsunami's house; When they arrived Naruto said "if you'd like to come with me 'round the back I want to summon one of the toads."

Kakashi asked "one of the toads, what do you want them for?"

Naruto said "you'll see." When they got to the backyard Naruto bit his thumb and went through some handsigns and called out "Kuchiyose no jutsu" and then slammed his hands down on the ground. After the smoke cleared the gathered people (Tsunami had heard them talking and had come out to see what was going on.) Gamakichi raised his arm in greeting and said "hey, what's up Naruto?"

Naruto replied "hi Gamakichi, I don't suppose you'd mind putting in a request for another sage cloak for me would you?

Upon hearing Naruto's reason for summoning the toad Kakashi and Hinata both had a drop of sweat appear on the side of their heads whereas Tsunami fainted when she heard Gamakichi talk.

Gamakichi said "sure, just give me about four hours to get it made and then summon me again. By the way, just out of curiosity, why didn't you summon Gamatatsu this time?"

Naruto said "a couple of reasons really, but mostly because Gamatatsu is way too expensive."

Gamakichi laughed at this statement and said "well then, see ya" and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

After the smoke had cleared Naruto turned to Kakashi and Hinata and said "well now then, where were we?"

Kakashi said "you were going to explain your message to Shikamaru."

Naruto exclaimed "oh yeah. Well you see it's about when I transformed into the fox during my fight with pain."

Hinata blushed at the memory of her actions prior to Naruto's transformation whereas Kakashi merely asked "what about it?"

Naruto replied "well, apparently the Yondaime set the seal up so that if eight tails showed up he would appear in my sub–conscious mind."

Kakashi said "really?"

Naruto said "yeah. So, how long have you known that I was his son?"

"Sensei talked about you all the time prior to your birth. Given that plus the time of your birth and sensei's death, not to mention the fact that you look just like him, even a halfwit could figure it out."

Naruto said "yes, well other than that, he also revealed that one of the members of Akatsuki was behind the attack on Konoha all those years ago."

Kakashi stunned could only say "really?"

Naruto replied "yes. Not only that though, apparently it was someone called Uchiha Madara although he's currently going by the name Tobi now."

Kakashi said "that's not good."

Naruto said "no, no it's not. Especially when by now Sasuke has probably reached Konoha."

Kakashi gravely asked Naruto "and exactly how do you know this?"

Naruto replied "I ran into 'team taka' on my way here after I left Shikamaru."

Kakashi asked "did you tell him about the current situation in Konoha?"

Naruto answered "yeah."

Hinata almost angrily exclaimed "Naruto–kun!"

Kakashi asked "what did you tell him?"

Naruto evasively said "nothing he probably didn't know already, or wouldn't have found out upon arrival."

Kakashi prompted "such as...?"

Naruto started marking points off with the fingers of one hand and started saying "that you...," Naruto looked at Kakashi and then continued "...Sakura and Shikamaru were probably the three strongest ninja in Konoha at the moment..." Naruto assumed a thinking pose and then continued "... I believe I also mentioned something about you probably coming after me as well; oh yes, ..." Naruto marked another point off on his hand "... I also told him that Danzou and all of his root members were hiding underground while the rest of Konoha was destroyed."

Kakashi's eyes widened and then exclaimed "What!?"

Hinata stunned at Naruto's actions said "b–bu–but, Naruto–kun that sort of information is only usefil for when you're planning an attack of some sort."

Kakashi stated "exactly. Hinata Naruto is right, Sasuke would already know most of what he told him. But this thing with Danzou is what has me in a bind."

Naruto said "so, Danzou is holding the powers of the Hokage then?"

Kakashi sighed and said "he's trying to. He's submitted a request to the Fire Lord and High Council to have Tsunade removed as Hokage."

Naruto said "well, I'd say that events are turning out better for Konoha then."

Hinata angry at Naruto's apparent callousness yelled out "how exactly do you figure that Naruto."

Naruto said "geez, Hinata–chan, you're almost as scary as Sakura–chan is when she's angry. Anyway, what I meant was, now that you, Kakashi are here talking to me while Sasuke who killed Orochimaru is going to Konoha to kill that bastard Danzou."

Kakashi said "I know that he sent Sai on a mission to assassinate Sasuke, but aren't you being a little too hard on Danzou?"

Naruto in explanation asked Kakashi "did you know that Danzou orchestrated the extermination of the Uchiha clan?"

Kakashi said "but no, that's impossible, Danzou couldn't giv..."

Naruto interrupted Kakashi saying "unless there was unanimous agreement by the other council members."

Kakashi said "but, surely the third would have..."

Naruto said "if unanimous the Hokage's advisors can overturn one of the Hokage's decisions; luckily usually the council is divided over many matters of policy, unfortunately the current council members were all on the same team as each other as genin. Anyway all of that aside the fact is that Danzou gave Itachi an order to massacre the entire Uchiha clan."

Kakashi said "I didn't know any of that. Wait a minute, I thought that Sasuke was a part of Akatsuki now... if that's so why didn't he take you to get the nine–tails extracted?"

Naruto said "knowing him he was probably just using them to test something."

Kakashi said more to himself than to anyone else gathered "I wonder..."

Naruto asked "wonder what?"

Kakashi said "I wonder if Sasuke has somehow activated his mangekyou sharingun."

Naruto said "well, that would explain that little mystery then."

Hinata asked Naruto "what mystery?"

Naruto said "of why he was carrying Itachi's eyes around with him. Now. I can get you back to Konoha really quickly if you want me to, or you could wait here for a few days then head back."

Kakashi said "hmm, well, with the current information that we now have I think that we should evacuate what's left of Konoha."

Naruto hesitantly said "uh, don't you think that that's a little extreme?"

Kakashi interested asked "well, what would you suggest?"

"Well, quite frankly, I don't think that there's anything to worry about" Naruto replied.

Kakashi frowned in confusion and asked "what do you mean?"

Naruto said "well, from what I gather Sasuke's only targets are Danzou and the root division of ANBU; therefore the rest of the population should be alright. Also due to the recent struggle against 'pain' everyone would be too exhausted to put up much of a resistance anyway."

Kakashi said "well, that's very true."

Naruto said "well, now that that's settled as to the reason that I called you here."

Hinata said "yes."

Naruto said "I'll be staying in the sand village for a while."

Kakashi said "surely you're not going to become a sand ninja?"

Naruto scoffed and said "after what they did to Gaara, no way. I did however hear that they have a number of wind masters there."

Hinata, who had calmed down started stuttering "w–wh–what then, N-N-N-Naruto–kun?"

Naruto said "I'm not entirely sure what I'll do after that."

Kakashi said "well, before we left Tsunade–sama said that your father kept a house near Kirigakure. Maybe the house is still under your family name."

Naruto said to Kakashi "thanks, I think I might just check it out." While Naruto was talking he thought to himself *damn that Tsunade; she knows me too well, that means that she probably knows what I'm planning to do then. Ah well, at least she doesn't know about Karin... oh damn, I better send them a message telling them not to talk about what Karin is doing anywhere near the others.* Naruto continued on to say "well then, what are you going to do?"

Kakashi answered "well, we were sent here under the pretence of informing the wave country of the current situation and hopefully enlisting their help in the reconstruction of Konoha. As the main representative of the village is not here we have yet to complete the assigned mission. Therefore we have no choice but to wait until Tazuna returns."

As Kakashi was finishing Tsunami came outside and said "my father will not be back for about a week I'm afraid."

"Well then, there we go. We can stay here for a week, anymore and we'll have to leave I'm sorry to say" Kakashi said.

Naruto said "that's more than enough time..."


	4. Konoha:A New Element

After hearing Naruto talking about there being plenty of time he felt compelled to ask "plenty of time for what exactly?"

Naruto said "why, for learning another elemental manipulation type."

Kakashi stunned at what Naruto was talking about said "w-wh-what?"

Naruto said "if I'm going to become even stronger I'm going to need to know how to manipulate more than one element, aren't I Kakashi" the last part of Naruto's monologue was said more as a statement than a question.

Kakashi replied "well, yeah, I suppose so."

Naruto said "or are you going to hold me back even more than you did when I was twelve?"

Kakashi said "now, what is that supposed to mea..."

Naruto said "you were well aware that Sasuke could use elemental manipulation even before we left the academy... granted, that was likely taught to him by his family. That does however not excuse you giving him yet another type prior to even teaching Sakura or I about it."

Kakashi said "now that's not..."

Naruto said "you're damn right it's not fair. Sasuke had his family to teach him yet I had no-one."

Kakashi said "now Naruto you weren't ready to learn about elem..."

Naruto interrupted again "yet Sasuke was ready to have two?"

Kakashi couldn't say anything to that, looked at the ground and said "if I had known how things would..."

Naruto scoffed and said "hindsight's a bitch, huh... nevertheless, those events did happen and all we can do now is soldier on, as it were."

Kakashi said "so, what do you want?"

Naruto said "teach Hinata and I about water manipulation.. after all, there is enough of it here."

Hinata said "u-uh, erm, I really don't thin..."

Naruto interrupted Hinata saying "you can't just rely on the Byakugan and jyuuken Hinata."

Hinata said "b-bu-but traditionally Hyuuga's are only meant to use..."

Naruto angrily said "screw tradition.. Didn't that chuunin exam all those years ago teach you that; number one: tradition will only hold progress back & number two: that jyuuken has at least two weaknesses?"

Hinata looked anywhere but at Naruto and said "sorry I-I-uh..."

Naruto, infinitely calmer said "don't apologize, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that..." Naruto sighed and continued "...surely you've noticed that the jyuuken is very chakra intensive, not only that though... activate your Byakugan Hinata."

After Hinata had activated her kekkei-genkai Naruto stood up and started forming some hand seals; when Naruto had completed the sequence he said "kage bunshin."

Hinata was shocked to see that the clone Naruto had created had it's own chakra coil system; when Naruto said "I'm not sure about Kakashi-sensei's mizu or ration bunshins but it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that they also have a chakra coil system. "

Hinata said "I didn't know that it would be that easy to fool the Byakugan."

"Neither did Neji. He also got caught up in that whole tradition crap as well" Naruto said.

Hinata turned to Kakashi and asked "w-wou-would you help me in this area Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi said "sure, I don't see why not. After all, I managed to teach this fool..." as Kakashi was saying this he indicated Naruto then continued "... in front of us the intricacies of elemental manipulation, so you should be no problem."

Naruto said "geez thanks for that."

Kakashi said "well, we can't let you beating 'pain' go to your head now then, can we?"

Naruto almost thoughtfully while scratching the back of his head said "heh, guess not, huh; well then, do we start now or wait till Gamakichi gets back with that cloak I ordered?"

Kakashi and Hinata suddenly had a sweat drop appear on the side of their heads at the blondes question and Kakashi said "well, we all know that you're up for training anytime; so that leaves the decision in Hinata's hands."

Hinata said "um, why don't we start right away then."

Kakashi said "very well then. Let's get started on water manipulation then; Naruto you might have an easier time with water because your mother was from the hidden whirlpool village and had a very strong water affinity; whereas Hinata's mother, who was from Konoha, had an equally strong fire type affinity. That said water may be more suited for Hinata whom Kurenai has told me has had trouble with fire."

Naruto said "so, we getting started or what?"

Kakashi said "yes, yes, I'm just going over some background for the both of you." They then walked over to the lake and walked out on the water when Kakashi continued "right, the first step to water manipulation is to make the water that you are standing on to move in a desired direction."

Naruto hesitatingly said "uh, Kakashi-sensei, can you please give us a demonstration?"

Kakashi said "sure thing."

Kakashi then proceeded to move his hands into a similar position to how they were when he was teaching the original team seven to walk up trees using their chakra when Naruto asked "uh, can you please wait a second?"

Kakashi smiled and said "sure, okay." At the same time he was thinking *he sure has changed.*

Naruto in the meantime had started drawing upon the natural energy that he now had access to; when Kakashi said "hm, that will probably speed up your training, that said though, will you be able to do it without your sage mode afterwards?"

Naruto answered "well, it's not like the Byakugan or Sharingan, it enhances all of the senses, my body and allows me to see how nature 'moves', so to speak; so I won't actually be seeing what you do, but the effects of it."

Kakashi trying to get his head around what Naruto said asked "so, you see the effect of what I do and then try to recreate it?" Naruto nodded at Kakashi's breakdown of his plan and then Kakashi continued "sounds like you in a nutshell, huh?" Naruto looked confused at what Kakashi said so Kakashi said "never mind."

Naruto turned to Hinata and said "you should use your Byakugan Hinata."

Hinata said "b-but it's not like the Sharingan, it can't copy techniques."

Naruto said "don't worry about it. With my sage mode and your Byakugan we should be able to have water manipulation down before the day is out."

Hinata looked down and said "but, isn't that like cheating Naruto-kun?"

Naruto placed his hand under her chin, lifted her head up with his index finger and said "were ninja Hinata and this'll make us stronger, besides, if this is cheating then what is Kakashi-sensei's Sharingan?"

Hinata said "w-we-well, when you put it like that." Hinata with fierce determination placed her hands in a seal and said "Byakugan."

Naruto turned to Kakashi and said "okay, Kakashi–sensei were ready."

Kakashi said "alright." Kakashi then placed his hands in the position that he used to demonstrate the tree climbing training and using his chakra created a current with the water that he was standing on. When he was done Naruto said "okay, we'll probably be at this for a while, you might as well go back to Tsunami's house."

Hinata said "but, what if..."

Naruto interrupted Hinata saying "don't worry about it, if we need any help I know some of the best water manipulators in the world."

Hinata said "well, if that's the case then why did you get Kakashi-sensei to show us how to do it instead?"

Naruto answered "well, you see; the best one I know and I don't get along too well together."

"Wh-why not Naruto-kun? Normally you get along well with everyone" Hinata asked.

Naruto said "well, Gamariki-san is a special case."

Hinata said "special case, what do you mean Naruto-kun?"

Naruto said "it's hard to explain."

Hinata asked "can I meet with this Gamariki-san?"

"You _really_ don't want to" Naruto said.

"Yes I do" Hinata adamantly replied.

Naruto sighed and said "fine then; just remember that I _did_ warn you and am doing this _extremely_ reluctantly."

"Very well" were the only words that Naruto got in reply to his warning.

Naruto then performed some hand seals, placed one of his hands on the ground and said "Kuchiyose no jutsu."

All of a sudden Hinata saw some symbols being generated expanding from Naruto's palm. When the symbols had finished forming a cloud of smoke appeared and the symbols vanished, within the smoke Hinata saw a toad shaped shadow; out of the smoke Hinata heard a sickly-sweet voice say "Jira-chan."

Hinata turned to Naruto and asked "who's Jira-chan?"

Naruto ignored Hinata completely and said to the toad "Gamariki-san, surely you have been told that Ero-sennin was killed & as such, that leaves me as the sole human summoner of toads."

In a gruff voice Gamariki said "oh, it's only you Naruto."

Naruto irritated said "why you..."

Hinata interrupted Naruto's rant before it even started by saying "um, Naruto-kun."

Naruto said "oh, right. Gamariki-san, this is Hyuuga Hinata. Although I was against it, she for whatever reason wished to meet with you."

Gamariki turned to face Hinata and in the same sickly-sweet voice as before asked "so, Hina-chan, why did you want to meet me?"

Hinata replied "well, I was wondering why you and Naruto-kun don't get along very well."

Gamariki said "we just don't."

Naruto impatiently clapped his hands together and said "ok, now that the two of you have met, back to Suiton training."

Gamariki said "Suiton training huh?"

Naruto said "what of it?"

Gamariki said "I could really help you with that."

Naruto said "uh, I think that we can handle it without your ridiculous face around to distract us."

Hinata almost questioningly said "Naruto-kun."

Naruto said "what is it Hinata-chan?"

Hinata replied "didn't you say that Gamariki-san is one of the most skilled Suiton users around?"

Naruto quickly turned around and said "I've no idea what you are talking about."

Hinata said in a hurt tone "why are you lying Naruto-kun?"

Gamariki's tongue came out of his mouth and he slapped Naruto's face with it and said "love-smack."

Naruto said to Hinata "now do you see why we don't get along?"

Naruto got another 'love-smack' from Gamariki for saying such a thing. Naruto, annoyed at getting slapped around by Gamariki drew on some natural energy and looked at the subject of his ire...Gamariki; Naruto angrily said "Gamariki-i-i-i-I, _that's it_."

Gamariki seeing Naruto's eyes started shaking and hid behind Hinata who said "Naruto-kun, why are you angry with Gamariki-san?"

Naruto said "you did see what he just did to me, yes?" Hinata nodded, seeing this Naruto continued "well, every time I see this blasted frog, that happens. The last time that he was summoned we fell off a bloody cliff."

Hinata turned to Gamariki and said "is that true?"

Gamariki nodded and Naruto said "and that 'love-smack' was the last straw... so now, I'm going to perform a frog-kata on him."

Gamariki quickly went through the same set of handseals that Naruto went through before and said "Kuchiyose no jutsu."

Suddenly another cloud of smoke appeared and when it cleared 'pa' toad was standing there.

Seeing Naruto 'pa' asked "what have you summoned me for Naruto?"

Naruto said "it wasn't me, it was Gamariki."

Pa said "oh" he then turned to Gamariki and asked "why'd you call me out here, Gamariki?"

Gamariki, who was still hiding behind Hinata, said "he was going to perform a frog-kata on me."

Pa then turned to Naruto and said "_why in the world_ did you summon _him_ of all toads?"

Naruto said "it was a special request from the beautiful lady standing over there."

Hinata's face reached a new shade of red and Pa turned to Naruto and said "isn't she the one that confessed to you during that 'pain' fight?"

Naruto said "what are you talking about?"

Hinata fainted as she heard the two talking and when Naruto heard a splash he turned around and saw Hinata face down in the water, screamed out "Hinata," rushed over to get her up and out of the water. Naruto, now carrying Hinata bridal-style turned to Pa and asked "say, do you think that she'd be able to sign the toad contract?"


	5. Konoha:Kuchiyose no Hinata?

"Hmm" said Pa "I don't know, wait'll I call Ma out here; she has greater chakra sensing capabilities than I do." Pa then formed the same handseals that Naruto and Gamariki had before and then called out "Kuchiyose no jutsu" the same process that happened before happened again and when the smoke cleared 'Ma' said "who're you fighting that you need both of us out here for Naruto?"

Naruto said in an apologetic tone "sorry, but I'm not the one that summoned you."

Ma asked "then who did?"

Pa who had been standing behind Ma said "that would be me."

Ma asked "why?"

Naruto answered "I asked Pa if it would be alright for Hinata here to sign your contract. Pa said that your chakra sensing capabilities are higher than his though."

Ma said "he's right, they are. That doesn't mean that he can't decide who can or cannot sign the contract on his own however."

Naruto frowned in confusion and said "then why..."

Pa interrupted and said "because, as great as her chakra capacity is, she still won't be able to call out Gamabunta or one of his brothers."

Naruto asked "well, what if we got her to summon Gamakichi and Gamariki multiple times? Wouldn't that increase her chakra capacity to a high enough level to summon Gamabunta and the other toads?"

Ma said "it's possible, but she'll need one of us to watch over her while she does it for a while. We know how you Konoha ninja's can be in regards to training."

Naruto said "I'm sure that she'll be fine with that. For now though, I think that she needs some sleep."

After Naruto had left Ma turned to Gamariki and said "and just exactly what did you do to her?"

Gamariki said "it wasn't me this time, I swear. It was Pa that did it."

Ma looked at Pa and said "okay then, what did _you_ do to her?"

Pa said "well, Naruto called her a 'beautiful lady' which caused her to imitate a tomato and then I asked Naruto 'isn't she the one that confessed to you during the Pein fight' and then she fainted."

Ma said "tseh, figures, I bet Naruto had no idea what you were talking about though, did he?"

Pa scratched the back of his head and sheepishly said "yeah."

Ma said "alright then. Time to leave;" All three toads then disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

Back at Tsunami's house Naruto had arrived with Hinata's unconscious body and Kakashi asked in his lazy tone "Naruto... what did you do to her?"

Naruto replied "it wasn't me, it was Pa."

"Eh, Naruto... your father's dead" Kakashi stated in a tone that someone would use when talking with a child.

Naruto stammered out "no no, I mean the toad sage."

Kakashi mollified said "oh, well, that's ok then."

Naruto still slightly miffed said "good to know" he then turned to Tsunami and said "ah, Tsunami-san is there anywhere I can put her to rest?"

"Why don't you use the room that you used previously" Tsunami replied.

"Sure thing Naruto replied" and then promptly left the room with Hinata in his arms. A short time later Naruto came back out and said "I've got permission from the toads to let Hinata sign their contract."

Kakashi said in a knowing voice "you know that she has nowhere near enough chakra to summon Gamabunta or one of his brothers, right?"

Naruto replied "true, but what she does have is the damn near perfect chakra control that all Hyuuga's seem to possess, as for the chakra capacity, 'Ma' is going to go to Konoha with you two to help her out with that."

Kakashi said "you've really thought this one out, haven't you."

Naruto sighed and said "yeah, there's also benefit of having someone other than me with the capability to summon the toads... oh yeah, and we can also keep in contact with each other if something important comes up."

Kakashi said "well, that's true."

Naruto said "it also means that it'll stay in Konoha's possession for quite possibly longer than I could keep it safe on the road."

Hinata, who had come out of the room that she was in just in time to hear Naruto's last words and said "keep what safe Naruto-kun?"

Naruto replied simply "the toad contract."

Hinata mistaking the thought behind Naruto's statement asked "what about the contract would make it dangerous?"

Naruto simply stated "nothing" but then continued on to say "what I mean is, even if Konoha won't put me in their bingo book or classify me as one, I am now currently a missing-nin and as such, if I keep it with me then there is always the possibility of it getting stolen."

Hinata said "but you wouldn't let that happen, right Naruto-kun?"

Naruto said "of course not, however, there's always a chance of it happening, therefore there needs to be a second summoner of them."

Kakashi interjected at this point saying "I've already signed a contract with the nin-dogs, so I can't sign the toads' contract."

Naruto said "well, I've already signed it and there are only three ninja here at the moment."

Hinata was looking between Naruto and Kakashi frantically as to see whether or not either of them was joking or they were playing a trick on her. When she saw they weren't went up to Naruto and kissed him, when she felt him kiss back she deepened it, when they were done Naruto turned to Kakashi and said "uh, excuse us," and then they went to the room that Hinata was in before.


	6. Author's Notes

I hate A/N's as much as anyone however there seems to be some issues that have arisen recently concerning the Naru/Hina scene during the last chapter.

As the title suggests this is the first story in a series that will go over 4 'books.'

The main story **is**Naru/Karin; the story requires the scene inserted into the previous chapter.

So for all those who have issues with it; sorry.


	7. Konoha:Goodbye Naruto, Infiltrate Konoha

When Naruto woke up the next morning he felt that he was naked under the sheet that was covering him; then for some at this point unknown reason to him, he felt a sense of something that he thought was akin to dread. As a matter of fact he had felt it only one time before in his entire life & that was when he failed to prevent Sasuke from defecting to the sound village... it was regret. For a moment he was unsure of the reason for the regret that he was feeling, and then he looked to his left and saw an equally naked Hyuuga heir lying next to him and suddenly he had a flashback to what they had done the previous afternoon and well into the early hours of the current day and groaned to himself "oh no" and then continued thinking to himself *no, no, no, this cannot be happening. Right, my only chance for any of my plans to succeed I need to leave right now and summon Gamakichi to give Hinata the scroll and summon 'ma.'* With a plan in mind he got out of the bed that they were in as quietly as he possibly could, got dressed and went to his temporary room to collect all of his meagre possessions and then went to the living room and summoned Gamakichi.

Naruto explained the situation that he was in to Gamakichi and then said "... so I'm going to leave before anyone gets up so I can slip away unnoticed, alright."

Gamakichi replied "sure thing, girl troubles sure can be tricky to get out of."

"Yeah, tell me about it" Naruto said in a bantering type of way then said "so, while you wait here to tell them I've left, give Hinata the contract and summon 'ma' I should have at the very least have been able to get out of wave country."

"Yeah, should be easy with that 'Hikazeshin(1)' that you developed while you were with us."

Naruto said in a commanding tone that he didn't use very often "I told you never to tell anyone about that, root would have people after me to get me to teach them the secret behind it hoping to be able to do it themselves though only someone with a wind affinity can use it. Unfortunately for Konoha of the two people that do have a primary wind affinity one of them was killed by the Akatsuki and the other just got banished."

"So to surmise the jutsu would be absolutely useless in the hands of any Konoha shinobi" Gamakichi said.

"That's right. Well, I'd better be off now, after all sunlights a wasting."

"Yeah, see ya."

"Oh, right before I go, is it possible for me to have more than 1 summoning contract at once, or would I have to break my contract with you first?"

"Hm, I really wish that I could help you, unfortunately you'd have to swing by the Myobokuzan Mountains to get that question answered."

"Right, see you in about a year and a half then." And with that Naruto left the residence of Tsunami and got on his way out of wave country; unfortunately Kakashi was waiting outside of the house and said "where exactly do you think you're going?"

A face-fallen Naruto said "away."

Kakashi asked "why?"

"Because I made a terrible mistake and now Hinata might want to come with me, and I can't have it on my conscience" Naruto then thought to himself *plus I'm meeting Karin in a few months as well.*

Kakashi said "you know how her family is going to take it don't you?"

To this Naruto said "well then, if the stiffs in the main branch of the Hyuuga clan have any problems with her after this I want you to tell them of who exactly my parents are, oh yes, and also that I'll know about it and come back to beat them into submission."

Kakashi said "you know that last little bit won't go over very well, right?"

"Yes, that's exactly the point" Naruto replied.

Kakashi said "alright then, what about her then?"

"Gamakichi'll think of something."

"Alright then, see ya later then."

"Yeah, see ya... make sure she doesn't do anything stupid for me, will ya?"

"Sure."

And with that Naruto left the Wave country and headed towards Suna.

Back in Konoha Karin passed the guard at the gate claiming that she was here to 'comfort' the ninja in their hour of need and went to look around for the medical station. When she saw a blonde girl wearing purple she went up to her, put her hand on her shoulder and asked her "would you happen to know where a 'Haruno Sakura' is?"

The blonde asked "why do you want to know where forehead is?"

Karin said "uh, who's this forehead you're referring to? I'm asking about Haruno Sakura. Oh, uh, I'm Karin, what's your name?"

"Ino, and I am referring to Sakura when I say forehead."

"uh, why?"

"Simple, it's because her forehead is as large as a billboard."

Karin had a sweat-drop appear on the side of her head and said "uh, right. Ok at any rate, I have a message for her."

"Ok, I'll tell her your message then."

"Uh, I think that it'd be better if I told her myself."

"Really**,** why is that?"

"Uh, it's about the fox and the black knight."

Ino not knowing what to make of what the, in her mind, strange girl that she just met was talking about black knights and foxes, but one thing she did know was that the girl had a lot more chakra than a normal person, she moved extremely quietly and she also moved with the gracefulness that one only finds in a ninja. With these thoughts going through her mind one thing became abundantly clear... the girl that she was with was no Konoha kunoichi. With that in her mind she decided to ignore her request and actually lead her to the temporary 'Torture and Interrogation' headquarters; unfortunately all of these thoughts came to naught as the kunoichi that 'Karin' had been seeking came around the corner of the cleared out rubble that passed as a road.

When Karin saw Sakura come around the corner she called out "Haruno Sakura."

Sakura looked up from the daze she had seemingly been in since finding out about Naruto's banishment and said "huh, do I know you?"

Karin replied "uh, no we don't."

"so what do you want? Ummm..."

"Karin."

"Ah, Karin alright, so you needed me for something?"

"Yes, well, you see, recently there was a reunion of the fox and the black knight."

Sakura, who by being Tsunade's apprentice, had gained access to the Hokage library and subsequently learned about the sealing of the Kyuubi into Naruto, knew that the fox part of the riddle was referring to Naruto then thought *well, if I take Naruto to be the fox, then who would be the black knight?* Sakura, deep in thought said to herself more than to anyone else "hmm, so I he is the fox, then who would be the black knight?" she then continued on to think about the reunion part of what Karin had said and came to the conclusion that Naruto could only be having a reunion with one person that could be described as being a black knight(that she could think of anyway), so she came to a decision and said "we have to take this girl to Tsunade-sama."

Ino said "take her to the Hokage, but Sakura she's a..."

"I'm quite well aware of the fact that she's a foreign shinobi Ino."

"Well, if you know then why do you want to take her to Tsunade-sama?"

"Because, if she's telling the truth then that means that she has recently been in contact with Naruto... and who exactly do you think the 'dark knight' could be, hmm? Come on Ino, I thought that you were a prodigy in the interrogatory arts."

"I am, unfortunately most of my skills in that area are jutsu based or undertaken with some tools that I currently don't have access to."

Karin interrupted by saying "uh, sorry to interrupt, but, shouldn't we be going to Tsunade right now. It's kind of tiring seeing a blonde arguing with someone she claims has a forehead the size of a billboard."

Sakura's fists fell to her sides as she looked at the floor about a foot away from her and growled out "Ino-o-o-o..."

When Ino looked into Sakura's eyes she saw that they were crimson in colour. Seeing this she started backing away shaking her hands palm outwards in front of her and said "um, S-Sa-Sakura... don't do anything foolish now..."

Sakura too caught up in her rage from hearing Ino's insult coming from another's lips gathered up all of her chakra into her fist and punched Ino halfway to Wave country.

Karin said "uh, sorry about that..." and then almost whined while covering her head with her arms "... please don't hit me."

Sakura smiled, laughed and said "don't worry about it, that was just pent up rage and frustration from everything that's happened lately."

Karin said "entirely understandable."

Sakura said "I'm glad someone thinks so."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, nothing, it's just that Ino's probably going to tell her dad about what I just did."

"Is he important or something?"

"Not so much no, unfortunately for me though, he _is_ the second in command of Torture and Interrogation." "Ah, I see, that could get a little sticky, want to arrange some blackmail material then?"

"Such as?"

"Oh, our pretty little blonde, having a lesbian encounter."

Sakura blushed and said "uh, I'm not sure that I..."

Karin smirked and said "don't worry about it, all you'll have to do is take the photo's, I'll be the lead actress."

Sakura said "If we do this i don't know if you'll be able to becom..."

"oh, don't worry about lil' ol' me, I'll be gone in a few weeks anyway."

"Really, why?"

"I'm going to meet a friend."

"Really?"

"Yeah" Karin said while a small bit of saliva dripped down the side of her lip.

"Ah, so that kind of meeting huh?" asked Sakura.

"Yeaaahhh" Karin moaned sensuously while thinking *maybe I really do have a thing for blondes*.

Sakura blushed at the sounds that Karin was making and the images that they were provoking in her head and then said "I don't think that I want to blackmail her at all, so let's not dwell on such thoughts then, yeah?"

"Heh, you're no fun."

"Y-y-yes I am."

"Doesn't really matter right now anyway, does it?"

"Heh, I guess not."

"Good, now onto the Hokage."

"Right. We're almost there."

"Almost where?"

"The temporary headquarters of the Hokage."

"Really, all I can see is the Hokage monument."

"Yes, well, HQ is actually inside the monument."

"Fascinating."

"I know, isn't it just?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, you know how to climb trees without your hands, right?"

"Of course" Karin said in a disapproving tone that indicated exactly what she thought of the, in her point of view, pointless question.

"Uh, sorry, I had to ask."

"Alright then."

The two kunoichi then proceeded to run to where all of the Hokage's' heads were displayed on the mountain and went over to where the Shodaime Hokage's head was and walked to where the symbol of the leaf was on his forehead protector and Sakura pushed the centre of the spiral. When she did this the left eye on the Nidaime's face opened up and Sakura walked over to it and then walked into the abscess left by it's opening. When Karin saw Sakura disappear she called out "Sakura, wait for me" and then ran into the opening after her. When Karin arrived inside the Hokage's temporary office she could only say "wow, I wasn't expecting this." What she saw that so stunned her was all of the 'rookie nine' minus Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke and Ino as well as Neji, Tenten and Lee; all of them were staring right at her and after she could talk again raised her right hand so it was at the level of her eyes, said "Yo" and formed her raised hand into a fist with her thumb, index and middle fingers detached from the fist and flicked her hand to the side. All of the gathered shinobi and kunoichi had a sweat-drop appear on the side of their heads as a result of hearing the familiar greeting coming from the girl's mouth. When Tsunade got over her temporary disbelief she said "so, what did you want to see me about?"

Karin said "what I have to say is of the utmost importance and secrecy."

"Is that so, I think that I should be the judge of that."

Karin said to Tsunade "it's about the red eyes and the fox."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow and replied "really, well I think that you can talk freely about Naruto and Sasuke here."

"Well, if you say so," Karin then looked away from Tsunade and at the other people gathered who she was unnerved to find out, were now staring intently at her; she then continued on to say "well, Sasuke found out that Itachi Uchiha was in actual fact ordered to massacre his clan by the upper echelons of Konoha's leadership."

There were gasps of surprise by the gathered shinobi and kunoichi other than Tsunade. Seeing this Neji asked the first question to come to his mind "did you know about this Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade said "no."

Neji asked "then why did you just have no reaction of surprise or shock at such an announcement?"

"Because I'm just simply not at all surprised by the actions of the council..." Tsunade scoffed and continued "...they've been trying to undermine me for years, so why wouldn't they have tried to do it to sensei too?"

"I see, that still doesn't explain why they'd want the Uchiha clan exterminated though."

"Probably they were just reaping what they had sown."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Heh, I guess there's really no point in hiding it anymore. You see, when Konoha was formed the Uchiha were just as powerful as the Senju, so naturally they would need some form of powerbase in the running of Konoha, so my grandfather gave them the job of military police. Basically they monitored the goings of any shinobi's that were displaying suspicious behaviour as the only people able to keep the Senju in line as it were. Unfortunately some among the Uchiha perceived this as a way to distance them from the running of the village and decided to try to rebel against the leaders of Konoha. Because I was the last Senju and tested in battle, the councillors and Danzou naturally asked me to assist in the, as they put it 'getting rid of a potential thorn.' Naturally I refused. That apparently had no effect on their resolve to destroy the Uchiha out of fear though."

Sakura asked "so if this was known to the Sandaime, why didn't he move to stop them?"

"You need to understand, the Uchiha and Senju are the only ones with the power to absolutely control the tailed beasts. It was well known that only the Sharingan could control the Kyuubi."

Shikamaru grasping the implications said "so everyone in the council assumed that the Uchiha were responsible for the Kyuubi attack then?"

"Exactly" replied Tsunade.

"So because they were afraid that the Uchiha were going to incite a civil war, wether real or imagined, they got someone with the power necessary to take on the Sharingan... Itachi?" Sakura asked.

"Yes. Ok girly, you have my attention now, what else did you want to tell me?"

"Oh, yes, right. Well, Sasuke has decided to complete his revenge and would like some assistance."

Tsunade asked "assistance. Why?"

"Because, we need help with the elimination of 'root.'"

"Alright. All of you as of now you are under Sasuke's command as team captain with the mission of the destruction of 'root,' I take it that Sasuke wants Danzou for himself?"

Karin replied "that would be correct."

Tsunade said "very well then, Shikamaru you are Sasuke's second in command, dismissed."

Karin said "alright, currently we're based out of just outside where the north gate was."

Shikamaru said "very well, follow me."

All of the shinobi and kunoichi that were now officially under Sasuke's command followed Shikamaru out of the hidden office and up to the top of the mountain where they turned left and went down the face of the cliff where no one was able to see them, they then proceeded to where Karin had said that Sasuke and his group would be. When they got there Shikamaru said "Sasuke, you have been appointed team captain for this mission."

"Heh, that so. Good to see you again too."

"I'm second in command. This has been classified as a 'S' class mission."

"Alright. Shikamaru Naruto told me that you're one of the best strategists that the leaf has, you'll be needing a plan to take out the underground 'root' base."

"Alright the way I see it is we'll need someone that has a great deal of experience with earth jutsus, that'll be you, Chouji. Sasuke, you'll take Sakura, lee and Tenten. Sakura is a medic-nin with a great deal of skill in genjutsu, lee's taijutsu is second to none and Tenten's skill with ranged weapons is legendary in its own right. I'll be taking the rest of your team and the other's gathered here."

"That's fine by me, you'll have to keep an eye on Juugo though, he has fits of uncontrollable rage that take control of him at times."

"Alright. Okay then, do you know where Danzou is right now?"

"I'd assume that he'd be busy trying to convince the village leaders that it's a good idea to get rid of Tsunade as Hokage."

"Yeah, you're right, in which case he's probably in the council's hidden chamber which is in a cave behind the Hokage monument cliff."

"Alright, Sakura, Lee, Tenten, let's move out."

Sakura, Lee and Tenten with serious faces simultaneously say "hai" and they rapidly disappear into the distance.

Shikamaru then turns to Suigetsu and Juugo and says "right, what are your individual skills?"

"Well, I've got a body made of water and I use this here, Kubikiri Hōchō."

"Okay then, nothing special."

"What was that!?"

"Just joking calm down. Now then, Juugo?"

"I'm the source of Orochimaru's curse mark."

"I see, okay then; Juugo, you're with me, Sai and Neji as well. Kiba, Shino, Suigetsu and Chouji, you are team 3 with Shino as team leader."

Karin then spoke up and asked "uh, I kind of promised Naruto-kun that I'd search root's library for him and I'm a sensor."

Shikamaru said "good, you're with me then. Alright, do any of you know exactly where root headquarters is?"

"Naruto said that he felt a large chakra source under the Hokage's old office."

Shikamaru said "alright then, Karin I'd like you to double check what Naruto reported."

"Very well" Karin then brought her hands together in a hand sign that had both of her index fingers pointing up and after a second she said "Naruto was right there is indeed a large chakra source underground."

"Alright then, let's do this" and with that they raced of to where the Hokage tower used to stand.

End Notes

Hikazeshin = Flying Wind God


	8. Konoha:Sasuke vs Danzou

When team 1, led by Sasuke arrived at the opposite side of the Hokage Mountain they started looking for the entrance, which was hidden in the rock face somewhere when Sasuke irritated by the wait decided to use his Sharingan to look for any small faults in the rock that could indicate an opening lay behind it. When he saw the fault lines that he was looking for he turned his head and said "Sakura, it's about 2 metres up the rock face from where you are now."

Sakura replied "right," gathered chakra into her hand and smashed the fake cliff to smithereens.

Sasuke thought to himself *better not get on her bad side* and then said right, when we get inside your jobs are to take out the guards, Danzou is mine, understood?"

Sakura, Lee and Tenten simultaneously said "hai" and they rushed into the tunnel with Sasuke bringing up the rear.

Back where the other teams were Shikamaru was saying "team 3 is going to go in ahead of us in team 2, Neji will be our eyes inside, that's why he'll be staying with me."

Kiba exclaimed "well then why isn't he with us then, if he's the eyes of the operation?" not understanding Shikamaru's reason s for placing Neji with himself instead of where he might be of greater use.

Shikamaru said "we'll be in communication over the intercom units that are provided for use in the field. That said though, I'll also need to have skilled fighters with me considering that Juugo is with us."

Suigetsu chose this moment to butt in as he perceived that his skills were being underestimated by saying "then why aren't I with you too then, oh illustrious strategist?"

"Because, you'll be more useful on the frontlines with that massive blade of yours, also I don't trust you."

"Heh, that's fair enough I guess."

"Good, now, if there's no more objections,..." Shikamaru looked around at the group gathered around him and seeing that there wasn't going to be any he continued "...good, then Chouji, if you would, please open up a pathway to these traitors' hideout." Chouji then went through a series of handsigns, called out "Doton: Tsuchi Bouhatei no jutsu," slammed both of his hands on the ground and a hole opened up that allowed 4 people to go down at once to the hidden 'root' base.

Kiba said "wow, that's pretty cool there Chouji." Secretly though he was thinking to himself *maybe I was wrong to ignore elemental jutsus.*

Shikamaru said "right, team 3 go down with Neji as well."

Team 3 and Neji said "hai" and jumped down the opened hole into the root base. When they got to the bottom Neji brought his hands up into a seal and said "Byakugan" with his Byakugan active he saw that there was no one in a 50 metre radius from their current position; finding this he said over his radio "team leader it is alright to come down now."

"Right" replied Shikamaru and then he, followed by the rest of his team jumped down into the hole.

Meanwhile back with team 1 Sakura and Lee were taking out guards left and right before they even saw a thing while Sasuke hung back to not only conserve his chakra for his fight with Danzou, but also to see just how much their skills had improved over the 4 years since he left Konoha. When Sasuke sensed that there were a number of chakra sources ahead he said to his team "stop; there're a number of chakra sources ahead. It's probably Danzou and those traitorous councillors that we're here to eliminate. I'm sure I don't have to say this but, from here on out silence is not necessary, though advised."

Sakura said "heh, then why'd you say it?"

Sasuke said to himself more than his team "heh, who knows."

The four of them then slid out of the tunnel and Sasuke used his Tsukiyomi to cast a genjutsu on the council members that made them perceive that nothing was wrong and ignore the four of them. Sasuke then crept up behind Danzou and shoved his Chidori sword into his chair... unfortunately Danzou had sensed the guards' chakra disappearing and came to the conclusion that someone must be attacking the meeting, he then proceeded to use the Sharingan that he stole from Uchiha Shisui and cast a genjutsu similar to that which Sasuke used to make them continue the meeting while he hid near one of the walls in the chamber. He also cast it on the door so as anyone entering the room would automatically be ensnared in it.

Sasuke realised, when he stabbed the chair that the Danzou that he was seeing was in, that there was no resistance that would have come with the skewering of a body and automatically assumed that it was a genjutsu and activated his Sharingan. Using his Sharingan he neutralised the genjutsu so that Sakura, Lee and Tenten weren't affected by it anymore. This also had the added benefit of lifting it from the rest of the council who quickly realised that Danzou was missing from the chair that they thought he was sitting in. Shikaku Nara seeing this quickly put together what had happened and said to the other council members "Danzou has used a genjutsu on us while we were having a meeting that _he_ called for to talk about the dismissal of Tsunade as Hokage. As such he, under Konoha law is to be treated as a criminal against Konoha and automatically listed as a missing–nin."

Some of the councillors took what Shikaku said in their stride whereas some of the others were outraged at the mere suggestion that Danzou could possibly be a traitor. Sasuke took this moment to interrupt the dissenting councillors by saying "he is no noble Konoha shinobi. He has committed crime after crime against Konoha..."

One of the councillors stupidly said "but that was all for the good of Konoha."

Sasuke in reply said "then why did he make a temporary alliance with Hanzou of the Salamander to take the position of Hokage from the Sandaime Hokage, or more recently someone killed the messenger frog that Naruto left here when he went to undergo his sage training."

One of Danzou's supporters on the high council said in indignation "do you have proof of such a preposterous claim? After all, the only people that had access to the toad summons were the Kyuubi brat and Jiraiya."

Sasuke said "as a matter of fact I can prove it. You see, on my way to Konoha I ran into Naruto and he gave me a scroll that will summon one of the toads here."

Danzou took this moment to say "how could he; only someone greatly experienced in fuuin jutsu could possibly create something like that."

Sakura at this point chose to enter into the impromptu court by saying "Naruto trained under Jiraiya for three years, not only that but his father _was_ after all, Namikaze Minato."

The gathered councillors, the daimyo and Shikaku all gasped at hearing this information and Shikaku said "is that so."

Sakura then continued "with that in mind, do you really think that Naruto would not have learned any fuuin jutsu?"

Shikaku said "heh, you're right. It'd be almost an impossibility that that'd happen. After all, fuuin jutsu is practically in his blood."

Sasuke said "right, now that you've all agreed that Naruto _does_ have the ability to create such a scroll..." Sasuke reached into his shirt and withdrew a scroll and spread it on the table that was in the centre of the room. This was when the councillor that had been supporting Danzou the strongest did a few handseals under the table. When he was done a thin layer of fire was racing around his hand and then quickly brought his hand up above the table and placed his hand on the scroll, causing it to incinerate. To the man's surprise Sasuke smirked and said to Shikaku "can you please arrest this man?"

The councillor said "it won't matter if you arrest me or not, all of your 'proof' just went up in flames."

Sasuke said "yes, it would appear so, wouldn't it..."

Shikaku said "uh, he's right you know, without that scroll we've got nothing."

Sasuke then continued "...if that was the real scroll."

The man that was bound by Shikaku's kagemane jutsu said "what. What do you mean by 'real scroll?"

Sasuke replied "simple, that was a decoy to see if any one of you councillors would try something funny, now for the real scroll..." Sasuke once again reached into his shirt and pulled out another scroll unrolled it, drew upon some of his chakra, cut his finger and smeared his blood over his fingers on his opposite hand, placed his hand on the scroll and said "Kuchiyose no jutsu."

The normal summoning ritual took place and out came Gamakichi, who raising a hand in a mock salute said "yo."

Sakura said "hiya Gamakichi, it's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, sure has, anyway, why did you summon me Uchiha?"

Sasuke replied "Naruto told me what happened prior to your arrival in Konoha and we would like you to tell us exactly what happened as currently that man there..." Sasuke pointed at Danzou "...is on trial for crimes committed against Konoha..." almost sarcastically Sasuke said "apparently causing the destruction of it is a pretty hefty crime."

"I'd think so. Alright, at Myobokuzan there is a scroll that has the names of all of the toads that are out and about away from Myobokuzan..." seeing that the gathered shinobi were paying attention Gamakichi continued "...and the named disappear from the scroll when they get back from wherever they were. Now this is only one way that the names can disappear. There is only one other way that can happen and that's if it gets killed."

Danzou said "what if he died of natural causes?"

Gamakichi insulted said "a toad summons _always_ goes back to Myobokuzan to die."

Sasuke said "why's that?"

"Why do you bury your dead?"

Sasuke said "fair enough."

"Okay so how do you determine if it was Danzou or not?"

Sasuke said "Danzou has a pattern of behaviour that doesn't allow him to trust that others know what they're doing. He also sees the Sandaime's beliefs as weak. Now Tsunade, Naruto and I all believe the same things, Danzou wouldn't want either one of us here today to speak against him. That's why he had him banished."

Shikaku said "if that's true then that'd mean that he set this whole thing up just so he could lay the blame of the destruction of Konoha square on Tsunade–sama's shoulders."

Sasuke said "not only that, but cause enough of a doubt that he would get a majority vote at this meeting."

Shikaku said "heh, so Naruto saves us twice in one week, even if he's not here."

Sakura said "heh, he had help this time though."

Sasuke said "indeed he did."

The Daimyo said at this point "I deem that there is enough evidence to prove that Danzou is indeed guilty on all accounts; therefore he is to be immediately executed and all control of 'root' is to be handed over to the Hokage."

Danzou said "you can't do that, all I've done is for the good of Konoha."

Sasuke said "you can't honestly believe that... can you?"

Danzou said "you have no say in this, you who betrayed Konoha for power."

Sasuke said "maybe not, but I will be your executioner..." Sasuke turned to the Daimyo and continued "if that's alright with you my lord."

The Daimyo said that's quite alright, I believe that you had business with him anyway."

"You're right." Sasuke then performed the necessary seals for Chidori, pointed his hand toward Danzou and said "this is for all your crimes." He then changed the shape of the Chidori that he held in his hand to a blade of lightning and seeing it rush towards him Danzou performed some and signs and said "Fuuton: Kiyoroi no jutsu."

Seeing what Danzou had done Sasuke activated his mangekyou Sharingan and said "Amaterasu."

Danzou immediately said "Suiton: Kouseitan'i Hensen Mizu no jutsu"

Hearing what Danzou called his technique Sasuke used his double Mangekyou to control the black flames and changed the target from Danzou's chest to his head. Needless to say Danzou didn't last very long after that. What Sasuke and the others in the room didn't notice was that the Danzou that they had been talking to for the last 20 minutes was nothing more than a clone with an illusion cast upon it that made others believe that it was the real thing. Sasuke then turned to the Daimyo and asked "is this meeting over?"

"I don't think that there's anything more that we need to discuss. Other than the punishment of the council member over there."

Sasuke said "as far as I'm concerned anyone in league with Danzou is my enemy."

The Daimyo then said "well then, I think that we can leave him in your capable hands until Morino Ibiki can put his hands on him."

Sasuke said "very well." He then turned to Shikaku and said "if you'd like to come with us, I'm sure that your son would like a hand with his part in this mission."

"What would that be?"

"The total elimination of 'root.' As long as even one of them is alive there is always going to be a threat poised against Konoha in it's very midst and besides, do you really think that Danzou would have died that easily?"

Shikaku said "so you think that Danzou's still out there somewhere?"

Sasuke said "it would be prudent to assume as such."

"Very well, where is he?"

Sasuke replied "he should be under where the Hokage's tower was."

Shikaku said "alright, who's team captain right now?"

Sasuke replied "I am, your son's my second in command."

Shikaku said "did you ask for that arrangement?"

"No, Tsunade ordered, although I would have chosen him myself."

"I see, why's that Sasuke?"

Sasuke replied "in my talk with Naruto I asked him about the current strength of Konoha."

"Really, and what did he say?"

"He said 'excluding him, Kakashi, Sakura, your son and some Sai character that I don't know' are the strongest in Konoha at the moment."

"Is that so, heh, that's some high praise coming from him."

"Heh, you're right there."

By this time Shikaku and team 1 had arrived at the hole that had been opened up by Chouji and Sasuke said "right, me and lee first, then Shikaku, after that Sakura and Tenten, you come in last of all."

Sakura said "aren't you underestimating me a bit?"

"No I'm not. Lee and I are just faster than you, that's all."

Sakura said "as long as that's all it is."

"Heh" Sasuke said half–heartedly and then jumped down the hole.

End Notes:

Jutsu List and Translations

Doton: Tsuchi Bouhatei = Earth Technique: Earth Mole.

Fuuton: Kiyoroi = Wind Technique: Chest Armour.

Suiton: Kouseitan'i Hensen Mizu = Water technique: Element Change Water.

Authors Notes:

I apologize for those that were deceived by the title, this is series related, so please no complaints.


	9. Konoha:Sasuke & Lee: Clear the Way

When Sasuke jumped down the hall they found that he'd jumped in front of a swarm of 'root' ninja's on their way to attack teams 2 and 3. Sasuke immediately activated his Sharingan and drew his sword. By this time Lee had reached the bottom of the hole and got into the beginning stance of the Gouken and then immediately started landing blows on the throats, livers, and spleens of the 'root' ninjas. This created enough of a distraction for Sasuke to channel lightning through his sword and start cutting the 'root' ninja's behind them in two.

The ninja four rows behind the original ones Sasuke and Lee were attacking heard the lightning coursing through Sasuke's sword and drew kunai and other weapons so as to counter an attack from Sasuke. Only a few had wind elemental chakra at their disposal and unfortunately for the 'root' shinobi they were towards the back, so Sasuke had no trouble cutting through the kunai and shinobi that were facing off against them. Lee on the other hand, with his lack of access to any chakra based abilities was faring slightly harder as he was up against ninja that were channelling chakra through kunais.

When Sasuke and Lee got past the small fries that were only using kunais and taijutsu and got to the last 3 ninjas Sasuke quickly cut through one of them but the second one that he tried to cut through was the one that had wind based elemental chakra and he had channelled it through the tanto that he was given when he joined 'root.' Sasuke said to his opponent "well, since you're a wind user, why don't we take this somewhere else?"

"Sure, where'd you have in mind?"

"Well, as you undoubtable know this place better than I do why don't we..." Sasuke at this point used a space/time jutsu to appear behind the root ninja and stabbed his Sword of Kusanagi through the root ninja who said "how did..." and then trailed off as Sasuke pulled his sword out of him and then swung his sword out to the side to clear the blood off of it and then put his sword away.

Lee was having some trouble with his opponent however; the ninja that Lee was facing off against had pulled some kind of leather handle out of his flak jacket's pocket and then to Lees confusion done something to it that made it into a whip. What the ninja had done was to infuse the handle with Suiton chakra and used shape manipulation on it. So Lee started attacking with his normal Gouken and used his speed to get behind his opponent but somehow the whip got around behind him and blocked Lee's kick. Lee then did his disappearing trick that he did with Gaara at the chuunin exams many years ago; Lee's kick got blocked again and Lee asked the 'root' ninja "is that some sort of an absolute defence?"

The ninja replied "something like that."

"Very well, I'm Rock Lee, fight well."

"Eh, I know exactly who you are."

"How do you know that?"

"'Root' agents are given a dossier on all of the weakling shinobi that serve under the Hokage."

"You serve under Tsunade–sama as well."

"No I don't, I serve under Danzou-sama, who'll lead Konoha into greatness."

"No he won't. Even if he wasn't already dead he would only have lead this village and the fire country into ruin."

"Danzou-sama is a great man that would do no such thing. That is what all those in 'root' believe."

Lee sighed hearing the ideals that his opponent was promoting and said "then all of you must die. Before I kill you though, could I please have your name?"

"Why, what would you do with it even if you did know it?"

"You are the strongest opponent that I have fought to date with the exception of the current Kazekage. I would count myself lucky to have fought you and respect you, your name and your clan until I died."

"Heh, then you're just like that Traitor that Hinata-sama seems to be in love with."

"Naruto Uzumaki is no traitor."

"Yes he is, he killed two of Konoha's councillors."

"He was fighting an enemy not one of Konoha's shinobi could defeat, including Kakashi-san."

"That doesn't matter, the fact remains that he did."

"So, only results matter, is that what you're saying?"

"Yes."

"Well, you've just gone down a few notches on my respect-worthy scale; however it hasn't changed my desire to know the name of the person that I'm going to defeat."

"Well, I guess I could give you my name then, it's Hyuuga Nanami."

Lee, shocked said "a Hyuuga. What in the world is a traitor like Danzou doing with a Hyuuga in his organization."

"Danzou's no traitor."

Sasuke came and interrupted their conversation and said "actually, as a matter of fact, he is."

"What would you know about Danzou-sama."

Sasuke started to count off on his fingers "well, he entered into an alliance with Hanzou of the salamander to overthrow the Sandaime; then after that failed he ordered the extermination of the Uchiha clan. That's just the beginning of his crimes though, I suppose that you didn't know that when he sent this Sai character to kill me, he gave him a list of all of Konoha's active spies and their respective capabilities?"

"No, you're lying, Danzou loves Konoha."

Lee said "no he doesn't, he hates Konoha, or at least how it is currently run."

"Isn't that the birth of all leaders, the belief that they could do better than the current one?"

"Maybe so. But, there needs to be a realisation that the entirety of the current system doesn't need to be changed, and certainly not into one that is ruled by fear."

"Danzou fears nothing."

"Then why, when I was carrying out the execution order given by the Daimyo of the Fire Country, did he use two defensive jutsus?" Sasuke asked Nanami.

"You're lying."

Lee said "no, he's not, it's merely human instinct that drives one to protect oneself. It's hardwired into our DNA."

"Danzou-sama trained us to have no emotions."

"If that's so, then why are you feeling betrayal now?"

"I, I, I don't know."

"Sai after meeting Naruto once said 'I now think that 'bonds' may be important and I will try to understand other's better,' or something along those lines. Having emotions, doesn't make one weak. Having no control over them in battle may make a decision to end someone's life harder to make, but the ability to make that decision makes us human. What Danzou is doing was trying to make Konoha into is nothing more than a militarized state."

"No, that's not it."

Sasuke said "those that suffer violence young never really get over it. Trust me, if anyone knows it, it's me."

Lee then said "I have no desire to fight anyone from the Hyuuga clan. Hyuuga Neji, as you know, is on my team. Because of this I have a greater understanding of the Hyuuga and their sensibilities than most. Hinata-sama is not wrong in feeling something for someone other than herself, or her clan."

"heh, maybe so, but that doesn't change the fact that I am from 'root' and you have standing orders to kill everyone in the 'root' headquarters, or am I wrong in that assumption."

Lee said "no, you're not wrong."

"So, we going to do this one on one, or are you going to have assistance from the Uchiha over there."

Lee turned to Sasuke and said "Sasuke-san, if you could leave me and Nanami-san alone to settle this."

Sasuke said "right" and went back to the opening to call Shikaku and the rest of team 1 down. While Sasuke left to do that Nanami got into the basic Jyuuken stance and Lee said "so, even someone in Danzou's organization knows how to us Jyuuken."

"That's right, what of it?"

"I was wondering, are you part of the main or branch houses of Hyuuga?"

"Branch, however Danzou has had scrolls detailing the completed form of Jyuuken for years, naturally I would have been given them to learn from."

"I see, then I don't have to hold back."

"Hold back, I think that you're underestimating me just a little there."

"I'm not. I've been fighting against Neji for years, so of course during that time I would have created a style that is effective against Jyuuken."

"Rubbish, Jyuuken is the strongest form of taijutsu in Konoha. A loser dropout like you could do no such thing."

"Nevertheless, I have done just that," Lee then turned so that he was facing Nanami at a 10° angle and twisted his hips further around; then he raised the closest arm to Nanami up in front of himself at a 45° angle from the ground as a defence and brought his other arm to waist height and parallel to the ground."

"What the hell kind of stance is that? It looks like a bastardized version of the jyuuken; there's no way such a thing could be stronger that the real thing."

"We'll just see about that. Fight well."

"Alright. Well, you're within my divination." A green circle appeared on the ground around the two combatants with all sorts of archaic seals and symbols; Nanami then rushed in towards Lee and started aiming for his tenketsu. Lee swung his defensive arm around and his Nanami's hand away from him and brought his attacking arm around to make a right hook only to have Nanami duck under it and spin around bringing her arm around to this time aim at his heart. Lee however had gone into a reverse stance than he had at the beginning of the fight and this time he used the speed that he had gained through his studies under Gai to get to the side of Nanami and aim a punch at her liver. Nanami seeing this and also that she had no time to launch into the 'kaiten' that was the Hyuuga's main defence against any attacks she gathered up as much chakra as she could and forced it out of the tenketsu around her liver the same way that she would use the Kaiten.

Seeing what she did Lee said to her "a derivative of the Kaiten, interesting."

"What of it?"

"Nothing much. Just that you don't seem to be as caught up in tradition as the rest of your family, that displays that you wish to be stronger than others."

"So what?"

"To have the desire to become stronger requires an emotion. I don't think that you are a tool like you seem to think you are."

"We in 'root' exist as Danzou-sama's weapons."

"You don't believe that."

"Yes I do,..." she suddenly got a sad expression on her face and then continued "... I have to."

"Why is that? Has Danzou brainwashed you into such a foolish belief?"

"No, I have to believe it to bear the sins that I have committed in Danzou's name."

"I see, that means that you have access to another emotion."

"What emotion would that be exactly?"

Lee with an empathetic expression on his face said "shame."

"Shame, is that what I feel. I wouldn't know. The Hyuuga train their members to deny emotion so that they can devote all of their decision making processes to logic and nothing else. That's why I am impressed with Hinata-sama and will abide by whatever decision she makes about me."

"So you'll stop this pointless fight?"

"No. For some reason it seems that I actually want to fight you one-on-one in a fair fight. Surprisingly that actually involves neutral ground."

"Very well, I would be glad to. Would it be possible for you to help us in our current mission?"

"No, I'll sit this one out I think."

"Understandable. Go to Tsunade–sama, it will be her decision of what to do with you now that you've changed sides."

"Wait a minute, weren't your orders to eliminate all members of 'root'?"

"Yes, and the way I see it, is that since you want to fight me in a fair fight, that makes you one of Tsunade-sama's supporters and therefore not a member of 'root.'"

"Why would you betray the mission for me? It's not because I'm Hyuuga is it?"

"I don't know, but it's certainly not because of your family."

"Heh, that makes two of us."


	10. Konoha:Not Just Weapon's

After Lee finished his fight off with Nanami they went out the entrance that he came from to go and meet up with Shikamaru and the rest of team two. At the same time Sasuke was arriving at the staging point of team two and Sasuke said "right Shikamaru, what is the current situation?"

"Team 3 has left to take out the remaining members of 'root.'" Shikamaru replied. He then, seeing who was with him, asked "what is my father doing here?"

"He was at the council meeting that Danzou was trying to take power from Tsunade, so I brought him here to assist you."

"Assist, what do you mean? Do you doubt my ability?"

"No. You're currently responsible for the lives you have under your command Shikamaru, any mistake you make reflects badly, on both you and me."

"I see, so what are you doing here, shouldn't you be with Lee, Sakura and Tenten right now?"

"Lee and I got separated as we took on separate opponents, so I figured that I'd be better off if I found out the current situation."

"Well, as I said before, team 3 is taking care of the root members in this base; according to the latest reports, team 3 hasn't encountered any opponents of a level higher than low–to–mid level chuunin."

"Really, for an organization like root I find it hard to believe that they don't have any jounin class ninja with them."

"You're right, it's inconceivable for such a thing. That's why it's likely that team 3 merely hasn't encountered any jounin rank ninja or the upper echelons of their command" Shikaku said.

"I was just getting to that dad."

"It doesn't matter who got to it first, just that you both did, now Shikamaru, you and team 2 will be coming with us as we head deeper into the base."

"What... uh, I think that that's a bad idea."

"No. I agree with Sasuke. No offence to Neji's skills as a Hyuuga, but at this point it's more beneficial to have access to first hand information" said Shikaku

Shikamaru sighed and said "fine, fine, whatever you say dad."

"This is no time to be having a father and son fallout, focus on the mission, for all our sakes."

"Okay, okay. Jeez, he's getting as troublesome as Naruto."

"I'm not sure that I like being compared to him in such a way thank you very much."

"Well, never mind then."

"Okay, let's move out. First of all Neji, where are Sakura and Tenten?"

"Sakura and Tenten are... oh no!"

"What is it?" Sasuke asked urgently.

"They seem to have stumbled upon those upper echelons that we were talking about."

"Well, I'm sure that Sakura will be fine, Neji, you were on Tenten's team, how do you think she'll fare?"

"Unless she comes up against a ninjutsu type she'll be fine."

"Hmm, fine then, I'll go to her position, where is she now?"

"She's down the second corridor on the left from here, then you'll need to take the first right, then the second left and you'll be in a large cavern."

"Alright, team 2, you meet up with Lee, he'll be fine by himself, but you guys probably need him more than I will right now."

"Alright, then what?" Neji asked.

"That's up to Shikamaru." Sasuke then took off, following the directions that Neji gave him.

"Alright, pack up and move out."

"Uh, I think that that statement is unnecessary in this situation Shikamaru" Neji said.

"I'm aware, it's just that I've always wanted to say that." Team 2 then left to meet up with Lee.

Tenten's opponent, just as in her first chuunin exam, used wind natured chakra. The ninja she was fighting had his sword drawn and was holding it with both hands in front of him in a defensive position. Tenten said "it's been a while since I fought someone with wind natured chakra, of course, the last time was in my first chuunin exam. You look to be about my age, were you enrolled in the exam as well?"

"We of root are above such petty exams" her opponent said in a rough voice.

"Ah, so that's why the members that I've faced so far were all so weak that it was almost funny."

"What? Weak, I'll show you who's weak."

"Oh, I'm scared" Tenten said dismissively.

"You should be, I use the wind element and that is best for cutting things."

"Yeah, about that..." Tenten trailed off biting her thumb and smearing blood on her palm, after which she slapped her right thigh with her blood coated hand and a cloud of smoke appeared out of a seal that she had had embedded in her pants when they were being made. When the smoke cleared, the root member could see a scroll in her hand. Now Danzou, being the thorough person that he was, made available all of the records of Tsunade's ninja to the members of root. The information included data about Tentens _raising twin dragons_ jutsu and as such he assumed that that was what the scroll she had was for and jumped away from her creating enough distance, in his mind, to dodge anything that she could throw at him. The scroll that Tenten withdrew however was not one of the scrolls that she uses for the _raising twin dragons,_ it was in fact, merely, a storage scroll, albeit one that only her family knew how to make. When she placed some chakra into it she was no longer holding the scroll as when summoning the weapon that she did the scroll got incinerated. When the smoke surrounding the weapon in Tentens hand dispersed the root member was surprised to see, not more scrolls, but a sword. The sword that she was holding looked like a normal katana, but it had a royal blue guard and hilt and the blade was blood red. Tenten said to the opponent "meet Kurimuzon Shouten(1)."

"What is that, our records don't have anything about you using a katana."

"I'm a weapons mistress; of course I know how to use a sword."

Tentens opponent thought to himself *Well, I still have my wind element running through mine.'* He then said aloud "your sword can't cut me, or have you forgotten about my wind element?"

"Hmm, I wonder about that."

"Why youuu" her opponent said and then charged at her, full of rage; When he got near Tenten she saw that was no berserker and that his rage could only hurt him. She then let him get closer to her and he swung flat at her, trying to cleave her in two at her neck. Tenten ducked and swung her katana at his stomach. It cut through it like a hot knife through butter. Which wasn't actually a bad analogy as, as soon as Tenten had separated his torso from his chest, the root members clothes caught on fire. The root member started screaming "put it out, put it out."

As the root member was screaming, Sasuke arrived at the scene, seeing the two halves of a person burning he asked "what did you do to him, I thought that you were a weapons specialist?"

"It's simple really, my clan is one that has specialised in weapons for centuries. Prior to the one village per nation system came into place each clan had to acquire weapons and ways of defending oneself. Some clans, like yours and to a greater or lesser extent the Hyuuga, stole techniques and weapons from other clans and enemies that they had defeated..." seeing that Sasuke was about to say something Tenten said, trying to appease Sasuke, "don't get me wrong, I'm not insulting either clan, merely using them as examples." Seeing Sasuke had calmed down she continued "well, my clan were not only weapon specialists, everyone in my clan needs to, at some point, make a weapon of their own and place their chakra in it whilst still in the forging stage. This..." Tenten held her sword up "...is my Kurimuzon Shouten, a katana that only I can use and the only one that will be able to use it, other than me, is a direct descendant of mine. Even if I had a twin brother, he could not use it."

"So how'd this guy..." pointing at the burned root member "...get burned?" Sasuke asked.

"Simple, when we infuse our chakra into the weapon it gains the primary elemental chakra type of the user; even if they aren't a ninjutsu type."

"Looks like he was worried about nothing then."

"Worried... who?"

"Uh, I probably shouldn't have said that."

"Said what Sasuke-san?" Lee asked walking into view of Tenten and Sasuke.

"Nothing at all Lee. Now we better meet up with Sakura." Lee, Tenten and Sasuke then left the area to search for Sakura.

When they got to Sakura's location they saw that Sakura had finished her fight with the root member and was in the process of healing a deep cut in her forearm. Sasuke asked her "are you okay?"

"What do you think!" Sakura retorted angrily.

"Uh, sorry..." Sasuke trailed off, not having much experience apologizing.

"No matter, I'm done."

"Was he difficult?" Sasuke asked, referring to the ninja that Sakura was using as a seat.

"Not really, he was a taijutsu specialist, like Lee."

"Hmn, alright, let's go help the cleanup."

"We probably don't need to" Tenten said.

"I agree with Tenten" Lee said enthusiastically.

"While I want to have blind faith in their abilities too, I just can't help but think that they'll need help."

"Shikamaru and Neji are taking care of the remnants and assisting team three, they'll be fine."

"You say so, let's see if we can find the library in the meantime" Sasuke said.

Sakura said "I'm going to need some time to finish healing, you go ahead."

Sasuke looked at Lee and said "you stay here while she's injured then both of you come after us." Sasuke and Tenten then left Lee and Sakura to look for the records room.

Author's Notes

Crimson Death


	11. Konoha:Sasuke of the Leaf Village

When Sasuke and Tenten came upon Team's 2 and 3 they were just finishing up the last of their opponents. Sasuke walked up to Shikamaru and Neji and said, "Well well, it would appear that Sakura and Lee were right after all."

Neji, having seen Sasuke coming for quite some time due to his Byakugan, said "It's about time that you got here, slowpoke." Sasuke's eye twitched. "But I am curious, what were Sakura and Lee right about?"

"That you lot didn't need any help."

"I see, you seem to have lost some of your ability to believe in others."

"No, I believe in what I can see. I just can't have blind faith in someone that I haven't even seen for more than three years, especially when they were mere Genin at the time."

"From what I remember, despite your being given leadership of this mission, you happen to be a Genin even now."

Sasuke scoffed and said, "I don't care about that. Now that I have finally truly avenged the Uchiha clan I have no more desire than to revive it."

"How are you planning on doing that, if you don't mind my asking?"

Sasuke laughed self-deprecatingly as he said, "Who knows? I haven't really thought about that yet. For the past eight years I guess I've been so focused on the past that I haven't really given much thought to the future. Well, I guess that the first thing to do now is to report to the Hokage the success of this mission. But before we do that I would like to know something from you."

"Yes?"

"Do you know of a Hyūga Nanami?"

"Nanami?"

"Yeah, Lee fought her. It would appear that he somehow inherited some of Naruto's powers of persuasion."

"Well, if I remember right, Hinata and I are distantly related to a Nanami, but we haven't really talked, or even seen each other since before we entered the academy."

"Well it would appear that you will be being re-united pretty soon. Lee fought her and, somehow, convinced her that she wasn't truly as devoted to the ROOT Shinobi's ideals as she thought she was and is now ready to speak to Tsunade about her role in ROOT and the possibility of rejoining the normal Konoha Military Forces."

Chouji, overhearing the conversation going on between Neji and Sasuke said, "You know, if you're going to be rejoining Konoha you're going to have to get used to showing the Hokage the proper respect Sasuke."

Sasuke asked the ever intelligent, "Huh?" before saying, "If you're referring to me calling the Hokage by her first name, the Senju and the Uchiha have a long history together."

Seeing Chouji about to speak Neji stopped him and asked, "A history?"

"Yes. Originally the Senju and the Uchiha were one family, but there was a schism of sorts and we separated into two distinct clans, ones with a long history of conflicting ideals."

Shikamaru said, "Wait, that means that..."

Shikaku finished the sentence that his son couldn't finish, "Sasuke's related to the Hokage, no, more than one in fact." He then turned to Sasuke and said, "Sasuke, you are aware that you cannot, under any circumstances, let that fact be known. Not yet anyway."

"Huh? Why is that?"

"Because, with the destruction of the village that has just occurred Tsunade's seat of power, not to mention Konoha's status in general, is uncertain. Any relationship between the two of you, no matter how miniscule it may be, must be kept secret. Some of the people on the Civilian Council have never really supported Tsunade's appointment as Hokage, now with this..."

"You think that they'd try to use me as a rallying point to overthrow the current Hokage."

"Yeah."

"Well it'd take a lot to convince _me_ to take the position of Kage."

Shikaku said, "I'd hope so. As you can probably imagine some of your actions haven't exactly endeared you to the shinobi of Konoha," before thinking, '_Although, with how the world is now it might not be such a bad idea. After all, his name is being heralded as the man who took down two of the Akatsuki by himself. The only other ones to be able to claim such a feat would be my son,_' Shikaku looked at Shikamaru lying on the floor. '_Who would claim it as being too troublesome and destroy Konoha from within, or Naruto, who we've just banished. Even Tsunade-sama was unable to fight against Akatsuki, let alone any of the rest of us._'

"So, if we're all done here then I think that we should go and report what has happened to the Hokage." He then turned to Karin and asked, "Are you coming with us now, or are you going to stay and search for a bit longer?"

"No," Karin replied, "I'll stay here and keep on searching for the library."

"Alright, Shino, I want you to stay here with her. Assist her in any way that you can."

"Very well," Shino said as the rest of them left the way that they had come.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ten minutes later the Shinobi that took down ROOT were before Tsunade once again, Sasuke at the front of the group. Tsunade asked, "So, by all of your presence I take it that all went well then?"

"Indeed it did," Sasuke replied.

"I see," Tsunade sighed, "Well, that's one headache taken care of. Now there's the rebuilding to be taken care of. We'll probably need to increase security while we're rebuilding so that another incident like the one with Gennō."

"Gennō?"

"Ah right, you had already left when that happened, hadn't you? There was a ninja from Kagerō Village that decided to blow up Konoha before he died, although we got lucky that time and Naruto changed his mind. Alright, all but Shikamaru and Sasuke are dismissed." All of the shinobi, save Sasuke & Shikamaru and Tsunade & Shizune, left the room, leaving only the four of them remaining.

Shikamaru asked, "Why did you want us to stay here Tsunade-sama?"

"Because, there's something that we need to discuss before any decisions are made concerning Sasuke's future as a shinobi of Konohagakure."

Sasuke asked, "What would that be?"

"It would appear that there is a rumour going around that you, on the behalf of the Akatsuki, captured the Hachibi Jinchūriki."

"Ah, that," Sasuke said, "The Hachibi switched places with a piece of a tentacle that I cut off. For all I know the Hachibi Jinchūriki gallivanting around with someone to improve his ridiculous rhymes."

"I see. Well then there's no problem, I will however need you to go with a team of my choosing to Kumogakure to explain this to the Raikage."

"The Raikage?"

"Yes, apparently the Jinchūriki that you 'captured' is the brother of the Raikage. Right now the team that he trained is here trying to demand that we hand over everything that we know about you and your skills. Of course there's no way that I would hand them anything of the sort, especially now that you've returned. That bastard Danzō probably would have handed them over without a second thought."

"A shinobi is meant to shelve their emotions to make the correct decisions in any given situation. A rather textbook answer, and one that both Naruto and I find particularly difficult to adhere to."

"I know. That's why I'm going to have Shikaku and Gai accompanying you on your little trip to Kumogakure."

"I see. very well, I'll do whatever is necessary...within reason of course, to ensure that the Raikage knows exactly what happened, and to keep out of the affairs of Konoha."

"Alright. Just run your idea's by Shikaku before acting upon them as 'within reason' can mean a lot of different things to different people."

"Very well. Will that be all?"

"Yes. Oh by the way..." Shikamaru said.

"Yes?" Sasuke replied.

"When we're making the blueprints for the new village, do you want us to rebuild the Uchiha Clan Compound?"

"Hmm...I don't really care."

"Alright then, later."

"Yeah, see ya."


End file.
